Putting Death In Perspective

This has been one of those weeks in our church where the inevitability and suddenness of death is driven home powerfully.  In one case by the tragic death of a life cut painfully short, and in another, by the end of a long and full life that is still just as painful to the family that is experiencing the loss.  I want to a share a few words this morning from a book I am currently reading by Paul David Tripp called Forever: Why You Can’t Live Without It.  This chapter, “The Bad News You Can’t Escape,” spoke powerfully to me this morning.

The way for you to begin to experience real life is to face the inescapable reality of death.  The death that is all around you is meant to get your attention.  It is meant to force you to face the impermanence of the physical things around you.  These things clearly have a limited and temporary ability to fulfill you.  The wilting flowers, the rotting deck out back, and the food that quickly spoils are all meant to produce in you a deep hunger for the forever that comes with it.  Rather than depressing you, all of the death and impermanence around you is meant to open your eyes and inform your heart.  It is meant to call you away from the delusion that this life is all there is and that you can find your identity, meaning and purpose and deepest inner sense of well-being from things that so quickly die.

Speaking of the impermanent pleasures of this life, he goes on to write,

The temporary pleasures of this world are meant to point you to the lasting pleasure of knowing God.  The rising of the sun each morning is to remind you of his faithfulness.  The crushing power of a devastating storm is designed to make you reflect on His power.  The sweetness of a human kiss is meant to remind you of his tender care.  The dependency of the baby is there to remind you of your constant need for God.  The fading beauty of the daffodil is meant to help you see his eternal beauty.  The imperfect justice of the human community is designed to make you thankful that God is perfectly just.  The tender moment of human mercy is there to cause you to rest in his mercy.  That five-course meal is an opportunity to reflect and be thankful for the spiritual food you need and that God graciously gives.  The shifting stars in the night are created to remind you that Jesus is the Light that never shifts or fades.  Every experience of love is meant to point you to his love.  Every moment of grace is there to cause you to run to his grace.  All of creation is finger pointing to God.  It was not meant to replace him.

Psalm 73 powerfully reminds us that this life is not all there is.  The point of life is not personal, temporal pleasure.  An end is coming.  All that is now wrong will be made right.  In pointing us to the final end of things, Psalm 73 tells us what the drama of life is all about.  We were made to have God as the one life-shaping treasure of our hearts, but sin turns us in on ourselves.  It causes us to forget who we are and that God exists.  It turns us into little self-sovereigns, wanting to reign for our own glory.

James 1:2-4 teaches  us, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (ESV).

Surely death is one of the great trials of life, but we have the promise of God that even this, the greatest of all trials, has the ability to produce something in us that prepares us for eternity if we will just view it from the proper perspective.

 

Check This Out! 2/27/12

Here’s something I haven’t done in a while.  The transition to a new church has cut down on blogging time, but here are a few great articles for your reading pleasure.

• From Michael McKinley, “8 Ways to pray During Sermon Preparation.” This isn’t just for pastors.  This will help you pray for your pastor! View Article… And here’s one for praying in preparation to lead worship from Matt Boswell. View Article…
• Here is a helpful guide for evaluating movies from Randy Alcorn. View Article…
• “Why We Need Jesus” from Michael Horton.  View Article…
• “Structuring the Church for Maximum Edification” View Article…
• From the Washington Post, “Black pastors take heat for not viewing same-sex marriage as civil rights matter.” View Article…
• From Denny Burk, “What is a Christian.” View Article…

 

Covenant Marriage and the Worship of God

For the next two Sundays I will be preaching on the subject of covenant marriage from Malachi 2:10-16.  This Sunday we will ask and answer the question, “Does it matter who I marry?”  You can find the outline below.

Covenant Marriage and the Worship of God: Does It Matter Who I Marry?

Malachi 2:10-12

Main Point: God is intensely concerned about who you marry.  It is His will for his people that they remain faithful to Him and to one another by not marrying outside the covenant.

I.                    God cares who you marry because it is a reflection (v.10)

1. It is a reflection of your relationship to Him
2. It is a reflection of your relationship to his people

II.                  God cares who you marry because He cares about your spiritual health (vv. 11-12)

1. He wants you to give him undivided service
2. He wants you to have a healthy view of His Glory
3. He wants you to experience healthy worship
4. He wants you to think in view of eternity

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Marriage Matters

This Sunday morning we will be looking at Malachi 2:10-12 and the sin of Christians marrying unbelievers.  This is a difficult subject that runs counter to the current cultural view of marriage, but the Bible speaks with clarity and authority on this subject.  Since there is a limited amount of time to deal with this issue during the course of a sermon, I thought I would post a few helpful resources on the subject of marriage.  I would especially recommend the last one on this list, “Mixed Marriages,” as a really helpful way to prepare for this Sunday’s sermon.

• “Marriage to the Glory of God” by Derek Thomas
• “When Sinners Say I Do” (online video training) by Dave Harvey
• Statistics on Living Together Before Marriage by Ray Fowler
• “Mixed Marriages” (On Christians marrying Unbelievers)

Sermon 1/29/12 An Overview of Malachi

This Sunday we will begin a new series through the book of Malachi.  Malachi was the last of the minor prophets and the last word from God for 400 years until the coming of John the Baptist.  The people had completed the temple and resumed worship after their exile to Babylon at the urging of Zechariah and Haggai, but it did not take them long to grow lax in their worship and complacent in their lifestyles as it seemed that God would not fulfill his messianic promises.

Malachi is particularly applicable to us today because the people struggled with many of the same issues that plague the church in 21st century America.  The people were struggling with corrupt leadership over God’s people, widespread divorce, neglected tithing and a lack of social justice.  Malachi helps us to learn how we should live and what we should be careful to avoid as we wait expectantly for God to fulfill his promises.  This Sunday I will be giving a broad overview of the book as we learn what we can expect in this powerful book.  Here is the outline:

Malachi: Living in Light of God’s Promises (an overview of Malachi)

Main Point:  God’s people can’t grow lax as they wait for God to deliver on his promises.  God expects sincere worship even when we can’t always see him at work. 

I.                    Sincere Worship Starts With Right Views of God (1:2-5; 3:13-4:3)
II.                  Sincere Worship Flows from Right Views of Ourselves (1:6-2:9; 3:6-12)
III.                Sincere Worship Demands Right Relationships With Others (2:10-16; 2:17-3:5)

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Sermon 1/15/12 Bearing Fruit for the Glory of God

John 15:1-8

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

The doctrinal focus of this week’s sermon will be our union with Christ.  I thought that this week I would post some quotes that might provoke some thought on this subject.  For those who are looking for outlines you can download in Word format here and PDF here.

• Union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation not only in its application but also in its once-for-all accomplishment in the finished work of Christ. Indeed the whole process of salvation has its origin in one phase of union with Christ and salvation has in view the realization of other phases of union with Christ. –John Murray
• We profess to think Jesus the grandest and most glorious of men, yet hardly care to be like him. When we are offered his Spirit, that is, his very nature within us, for the asking, we will hardly take the trouble to ask for it. –George MacDonald
• The Lord never came to deliver men from the consequences of their sins while yet those sins remained…Yet men, loving their sins and feeling nothing of their dread hatefulness, have, consistent with their low condition, constantly taken this word concerning the Lord to mean that he came to save them from the punishment of their sins. –George MacDonald
• There is but one salvation for all mankind, and that is the life of God in the soul. God has but one design or intent towards all mankind, and that is to introduce or generate his own life, light and spirit in them, that all may be as so many images, temples, and habitations of the holy Trinity. This is God’s will to all Christians, Jews and heathens. They are all equally the desire of his heart. Now there is but one possible way for man to attain this salvation. There is not one way for a Jew, another for a Christian and a third for a heathen. No; God is one human nature is one, salvation is one, and the way to it is one; and that is the desire of the soul turned to God. –William Law
• All our salvation consists in the manifestation of the nature, life and spirit of Jesus Christ in our inward new man. This alone is Christian redemption, this alone delivers from the guilt and power of sin, this alone redeems and renews. –William Law
• It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ’s blood and merit. –Charles Haddon Spurgeon
• Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not.” –Martin Luther
• If you have eternal life at all, it simply means that you have the Son, Jesus Christ ­ NOW! Eternal life is not a peculiar feeling inside! It is not your ultimate destination, to which you will go when you are dead. If you are born again, eternal life is that quality of life that you possess right now, at this very moment, in your own physical body, with your own two feet on the ground, and in the world TODAY! And where does this life come from? Of Him! He is that life! So if you have eternal life, it means that you have Somebody, Jesus Christ, and the life that you possess is of Him.–W. Ian Thomas

Sermon Outline 1-8-11 The Gospel Plain and Simple

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Now I would remind you, brothers,of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:1-9)

The Gospel: Plain and Simple

I.                   God  – The Holy and Loving Creator

1. God is Creator – Genesis 1:1
2. God is Love – 1 John 4:7-8
3. God is Holy – Isaiah 6:3

II.                Man – The Sinful Creature

1. Sin – defined in 1 John 3:4
2. Man is a Sinner By Nature and By Choice (Romans 3:9-18, 23)
3. Man Deserves Death and Hell (Romans 6:23)
4. Man Cannot Save Himself (Isaiah 64:6) (Ephesians 2:8-9)

III.             Christ the Merciful Redeemer

1. Jesus Christ is the Infinite God/Man (John 1:1, 14)
2. Jesus died on the Cross and was raised from the dead (Romans 4:23-25)
3. Jesus taught that you must be born-again (John 3:3,7) John 1:12-13

IV.             God Commands Us to Respond to Him in 3 Ways

1. We Must Repent of Our Sin (Luke 13:3)
2. We Must Trust in Christ Alone (Acts 4:12)
3. We Must Be Baptized in Obedience to Christ’s Command (Mt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:38)

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J.C. Ryle on the Benefits of the Lord’s Supper

Anyone who knows me knows what a fan I am of the late Bishop of Liverpool.  As we prepare to receive Communion this Lord’s Day, let’s take a moment to hear this great voice from the past teach us what benefits we might expect from our participation in the Lord’s Supper.

The simplest statement of the benefit which a truehearted communicant may expect to receive from the Lord’s Supper, is the strengthening and refreshing of our souls–clearer views of Christ and His atonement, clearer views of all the offices which Christ, fills as our Mediator and Advocate, clearer views of the complete redemption Christ has obtained for us by His substituted death on the cross, clearer views of our full and perfect acceptance in Christ before God, fresh reasons for deep repentance for sin, fresh reasons for lively faith–these are among the leading returns which a believer may confidently expect to get from his attendance at the Lord’s Table. He that eats the bread and drinks the wine in a right spirit, will find himself drawn into closer communion with Christ, and will feel to know Him more, and understand Him better.

(a) Right reception of the Lord’s Supper has a “humbling” effect on the soul. The sight of the bread and wine as emblems of Christ’s body and blood, reminds us how sinful sin must be, if nothing less than the death of God’s own Son could make satisfaction for it, or redeem us from its guilt. Never should we be so “clothed with humility,” as when we receive the Lord’s Supper.

(b) Right reception of the Lord’s Supper has a “cheering” effect on the soul. The sight of the bread broken, and the wine poured out, reminds us how full, perfect, and complete is our salvation. Those vivid emblems remind us what an enormous price has been paid for our redemption. They press on us the mighty truth, that believing on Christ, we have nothing to fear, because a sufficient payment has been made for our debt. The “precious blood of Christ” answers every charge that can be brought against us. God can be “just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

(c) Right reception of the Lord’s Supper has a “sanctifying” effect on the soul. The bread and wine remind us how great is our debt of gratitude to our Lord, and how thoroughly we are bound to live for Him who died for our sins. They seem to say to us, “Remember what Christ has done for you, and ask yourself whether there is anything too great to do for Him.”

(d) Right reception of the Lord’s Supper into hearts, has a restraining effect on the soul. Every time a believer receives the bread and the wine he is reminded what a serious thing it is to be a Christian, and what an obligation is laid on him to lead a consistent life. Bought with such a price as that bread and wine call to his recollection, ought he not to glorify Christ in body and spirit, which are His? The man that goes regularly and intelligently to the Lord’s Table finds it increasingly hard to yield to sin and conform to the world.

Such is a brief account of the benefits which a right hearted communicant may expect to receive from the Lord’s Supper. In eating that bread and drinking that cup, such a man will have his repentance deepened, his faith increased, his knowledge enlarged, his habit of holy living strengthened. He will realize more of the “real presence” of Christ in his heart. Eating, that bread by faith, he will feel closer communion with the body of Christ. Drinking that wine by faith, he will feel closer communion with the blood of Christ. He will see more clearly what Christ is to him, and what he is to Christ. He will understand more thoroughly what it is to be “one with Christ, and Christ one with him.” He will feel the roots of his soul’s spiritual life watered, and the work of grace in his heart established, built up, and carried forward. All these things may seem and sound like foolishness to a natural man, but to a true Christian these things are light, and health, and life, and peace. No wonder that a true Christian finds the Lord’s Supper a source of blessing!

Excerpted from, http://www.gracegems.org/Ryle/pr06.htm

Sermon Outline 1/1/12

The Lord’s Supper: What, Why, How and Who

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

I.      What Does It Mean?

          a.      It is a reminder and reflection of the work of Christ.
          b.      It is a reminder of the importance of the local church. 

II.    Why Must We Observe It?

          a.      Because Jesus commanded it.
          b.      Because of its real benefits to us.

III.  How Should It Be Observed?

           a.      With seriousness, joy and reflection.

IV.   Who Should Participate?

          a.      All who are in Christ.
          b.      All who are in right fellowship with the church.

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Jonathan Leeman on the Most important Quality in a Pastor.

Read, “What You Reeeally Want in a Pastor”